symbolism

Too often, you'll see something like this in an ad for tampons.

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White shirt, white sheets, white everything.

Or this.

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What is that mystery blue liquid anyway?

This probably looks familiar.

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"Let's go with pink," says every person making a decision about the color of feminine hygiene packaging.

And this monstrosity?

Photo via iStock.

Wow, we get it already.

For the most part, tampon commercials don't really know how to sell their product in innovative, stereotype-busting ways.

Sure, sometimes they can be clever. But all too often, they rely on obnoxious notions about gender and female fragility and try to hide the fact that menstruating is not, in fact, fun. Like, there's such a thing as a "happy" period? And why is everyone twirling in white yoga pants all the time?

Admittedly, promoting a product that involves blood and genitalia can be a hard sell.

"I'm not saying that I want to see blood in tampon commercials," Dodai Stewart once wrote for Jezebel. "I don't know what I want to see. And it seems like the ad execs don't know either."

But there's got to be a better way. Right?

That's what makes this new tampon commercial so fantastic.

Unlike most other feminine hygiene ads, it doesn't shy away from showing some blood (albeit in an unexpected way):

The ad — promoting the U.K.-based Bodyform's Red.fit campaign — depicts what the website Elle India describes as "the strength, the ferocity, and toughness of blood on women" without awkwardly resorting to flower petals, weird blue liquids, or models with perfect teeth.

Ad execs: More of this, please.